Escape from Tomorrow
by PrincessVanya
Summary: AU SasuSaku oneshot. Sakura and Sasuke have gone their separate ways down separate paths, but just for one night, they both need an escape from all of that pain. An escape from the future. An escape from tomorrow.


**Escape from Tomorrow**

A woman walked alone through rubble and broken remains of buildings, having to stop every so often to climb over a particularly large bit of debris. The only light came from the occasional reflected moonlight off of her pale emerald eyes or her bubble gum pink hair. Her well toned muscles strained against the effort of the climbing, she was exhausted. As she made her way down the destroyed street, her final destination grew larger and larger – the abandoned Uchiha complex. This section of the city had remained destroyed even months after the battle that had obliterated Konohagakure, for there was not one Uchiha citizen left alive.

That wasn't to say that all of the Uchiha were dead, no, there was still one, but his citizenship had been voided months ago. The missing-nin, Sasuke Uchiha. Once the youngest protégée of the clan, now a confirmed enemy of the state to be killed on sight. Once a fine ninja destined for greatness, now stripped of all his honor. Once her teammate, now a lost name and a lost face.

Sakura Haruno was her name, and for once, she was going to be honest with herself. She would allow herself one night of honesty before she would accept the truth of the matter that he was gone and never coming back to Konoha. Never coming back to her. But such thoughts were better saved for the morning. Tonight, she wanted him back, she wanted him here, but more than anything else, she just wanted _him_.

She'd reached the compound, finally. The neglect was obvious, as was the apparent destruction from the attack. However, due to a strong foundation under the buildings, its non-central location, and no doubt some tricks thought up by its former inhabitants to ward off attack, (it was very unlikely that the heads of the police department would make their home vulnerable in any way), it was still standing.

Sakura had never visited the compound when people were still living there, but she'd been there many times on routine patrol and reconnaissance during wartime, so she knew the layout relatively well. She beelined for the room that she knew to be Sasuke's. Peeling paint and torn fabric shreds aside, the room looked pretty much the same as it did the day he left. That had been years ago, too many to take back. She picked up a massive board that had fallen in front of his door and tossed it behind her. It landed with a loud crash and a cloud of dust rose up. As she turned around to grab the door as well, (it had fallen off of its hinges and was now more of a hindrance than a help), when she sensed a quick flash of energy and felt a kunai at her neck. She stood, frozen, not believing anyone could have snuck up on her that quickly.

"Sakura," a toneless voice said. Her eyes flew open, and she sunk to her knees in shock. Having already given himself away, the stranger wasn't bothering to mask his chakra at this point. She let the feel of it wash over her, she'd never forget it. Standing right next to her, knife at her throat, was the one and only Sasuke Uchiha.

"You shouldn't have come here," she said. Her voice was brittle. He sighed, his sarcasm was very apparent.

"Always with the dumb comments and emotional breakdowns. You haven't changed a bit," he said.

"I could kill you, you know," she threatened. At this, he laughed. She lowered her head, he was right, she was bluffing. She'd already proved that she couldn't do it, and here she was already disadvantaged.

"I'm glad you're alive. Did Naruto have to save your ass in the battle, like always?" Here his voice was mocking, but the words 'I'm glad you're alive' stuck out in her mind. It was rather surprising.

"What do you care, you weren't there to save either one of us, not that we needed saving at all, Sasuke-_kun_," she said, the suffix laced with malice.

He tilted his head to the side and shrugged. "I had things to take care of."

"Like murdering your brother and seeking revenge on all citizens as penance for something that happened years ago?"

The blade pricked her skin, that really wasn't the best thing for her to say. "Yeah, I'm here for revenge, but you have yet to answer a question that I've been wondering. I'm here to purge the city of its guilty soul, but why the hell are you here?" Sakura bit her lip, but admitted, "I was here to mourn you, just for one night."

Sasuke smirked and bent down on one knee to get eye level with her. "Do I look dead to you?" Sakura smirked as well, and replied, "I know, look at you, alive, in the flesh." He raised an eyebrow. She continued, "A better word, I guess, would be to say that I wanted to remember you for a night, before I have to accept that you're gone and labeled a traitor tomorrow."

"Ah," he said, "So, here's a deal. Tomorrow you can treat me as a convicted criminal, and tomorrow I can start back up a revenge campaign, but tonight, let's do something different."

It was her turn to raise an eyebrow at this. "Different?" He lowered his eyes, and his shoulders slumped a bit. This was a different man.

"I missed you, Sakura, all those years that I was gone. I don't regret leaving, I had to take care of some things, but I never truly forgot you. Tonight, let's pretend that I didn't have to leave. Lets pretend that things were different. Let's…" he trailed off, and lowered his kunai at this point. He ran a thumb from her jaw, slowly, to the top of her unusually large forehead. "…experiment," he finished. The suggestion in his voice was not lost on the girl. She smiled. She could feel his chakra changing, flaring up, pulsating. This might have been their future, in a different reality. For now, though, they could pretend and escape to that world. She needed no further encouragement to throw herself on top of Sasuke with the words, "I sure as hell hope you are ready for me. I'm not the weak little girl you left behind anymore."

Hours later, they would wake up, covered in dirt, dust, and wreckage that may or may not have been there before the previous night. Sasuke, a smirk on his face and Sakura in his arms, said to himself, "No, no, you aren't a weak young thing, but you're still my same sweet Sakura."

* * *

><p>I wrote this oneshot a while ago and figured I might as well post it. Let me know what you think - I'm trying to improve my writing, especially with this pairing. Thank you for reading~<p> 


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